Diggitydog

Obviously the "whoosh" would be the fastest point of your swing and you want that to happen at impact. When I'm not releasing my driver it's because my hands are trapped behind my body. I try to shorten my backswing which helps me keep my hands in front of my body during the swing.

4 things: - Don't shift your weight much if at all off the ball during backswing - Turn your shoulders as much as your flexibility allows - Keep your arms on your body / short backswing and don't wrap your arms around your body on the way back, your hands should get on top of your right shoulder. Obviously 1000 people will tell you 1000 things but these basics should help a 36 handicapper a lot. Biggest one is the weight shift. Keep that weight still on the way back and turn those shoulders. You'll pound it if you do it right. If you are hooking the ball your arms are likely getting trapped behind your body / late release. Make sure you don't turn your shoulders flat, keep your left shoulder down so the angle of your shoulder turn doesn't flatten out.

Keep in mind he's only been back from rehab for a few months as well. I also think that he's going pretty hard to his left side and maybe he's not as straight as the last few years. He was hitting it a bit easier before the surgery which gives smoother rhythm.

yes he did, they put the "Protracer" on it and it was a big pull hook. It's going to be insane how good Tiger gets by the end of this season. 2009 will be some kinda comeback. Even if you're already sick of watching him after 3 tourneys.

“My name is Diggitydog and I’m a Swing Snob.” Well I used to be, but it's been over a year since I switched from my "Leadbetter" style swing to the controversial Stack and Tilt golf swing. The reason I switched was the discovery I made of hitting golf shots more consistently. I used to think there was only one proper way to swing a golf club. I was a "swing snob". I have changed my thinking. I believe there are many proper ways to swing a golf club. Many examples are on tour, Ben Curtis / Jim Furyk / Fred Couples / Colin Montgomerie / Steve Elkington / Tiger Woods....the list is as long as there are players. Many different swings and all are successful in their own way. If you are struggling with consistency using your current swing try Stack and Tilt. I did and it worked fabulously. People who complain about the swing not working or have mediocre results did not implement S&T; properly. I've hit many balls with Stack and Tilt and I've hit, without exaggeration, the purest shots of my life over the past year. I won't lie though; I've struggled at times when I am not executing the swing as I’ve learned it. I've ordered the DVD's because honestly I just want a solid reference beyond the GD article to work with when my results are not what I know they can be. I also can agree with S&T; critics when they say that Golf Digest articles show poor conventional swing positions, and I also see some of the tour players not exactly executing the swing as they’ve demonstrated / described in their articles. Those things make the swing easier to disregard for the critics but at the end of the discussion grooves meet dimples and RESULTS are all that matter. People who are disagreeing with the theory are obviously free to do so. If you are shooting scores that you are pleased with, don't struggle with consistency then don't switch. I've moved from being a "swing snob" to having an open mind and my golf time is so much easier as I don't have to be swinging "perfectly" to play a good round. Refute it all you want but Stack and Tilt works, even if you don't like the theory. I think of it like religion. How can more than one theory be correct? Religion is not so flexible, luckily in golf there is more than one version of “correct”. There is no swing that will give you a perfect result every time. Not possible. That’s why we play. You cannot mix the theory of Stack and Tilt with much of the current conventional swing theory. You must commit and believe in the results of the golf shots. That will be your biggest challenge if you switch. Remember this: The ball doesn't lie. A properly executed Stack and Tilt swing will produce an efficient strike on the golf ball from the lob wedge to the driver. The problem with people carving the swing up saying “it didn't work for them” is that the swings haven’t been executed properly. Mentally I made a huge decision, at the time, to switch to a new swing that is so radical compared to what I had been taught. If you’re a computer guy it’s like switching from PC to Mac. They both get the job done, just in different ways. More people use PC's than Mac but those who use Mac's can't understand why the entire world doesn't use them. That's how I feel about Stack and Tilt. It’s not an easy decision to throw away what you’ve invested in the conventional swing. You must think of it differently. Your swing is a journey and committing to a new theory is a step in that journey. If you commit to the Stack and Tilt theory I am convinced it will be a step forward. It’s hard to listen to the critics say things like “Stack and Tilt is not a good swing it is good for 7, 8 and 9 irons.” Because those guys are supposed to know, but just because Johnny Miller and David Leadbetter don’t like the swing doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. It’s hard to listen to swing snobs ask you questions like. “Have you always done a reverse pivot?” Believe and commit. Stack and Tilt works, and when you pump the ball down the middle, pick up the tee before the ball lands and put the driver back in the bag all day long they'll want to do a reverse pivot too!

I played golf with a guy and his father on Father's Day. On the 18th hole the Dad says to his Son. "You shot that out there like Tiger." The Son turns around after saying virtually nothing all round. "The ONLY thing Tiger and I have in common is that we both breathe." Then he walks to his cart and that was the last thing is said for the round. It was pretty funny.

The thing that is crazy about that video is that they catch her in the act of making a hole in one. Even though it doesn't count to her list, it still went in. I still say complete liar.

Wow, did I ever get on a Lee Majors tangent after reading Tourspoon's post about Bionic Man. Was checking out the Fall Guys / Six Million Dollar Man Wikipedia pages.

after a 50 foot putt it's any shot between 200 - 220. I just can't get my 3 iron to go that far with my current swing. :(

Did you get these clubs yet? I am eyeing up a set similar on eBay, I might need to talk to the Arizona Golf guy, Eduardo?

I was thinking blades but all the golf shop dudes are like "1 in 7 people can hit blades so we don't carry them." What's all the fuss? Is it hype or what? My misses are not heel or toe much they are more thin or not closing the face or closing too much but sweet spot isn't really a problem.

Dude, I know your frustration. I was watching some video of my swing last year and I kept thinking I was fixing the swing and making it better but really I still had one big fault in it that was causing inconsistency. Think of these things. 1) Your goal was 79 once and you hit 80 once. - don't beat yourself up. that's close 2) All the practice you've logged will pay off in short game and experience. I'm going to guess that you're losing strokes on your long game, just a guess, penalty strokes etc. if that's the case, use the winter to fix the faults. Step back, relax and don't rush things. You're not going pro even if you want to, you want to be a good amateur, right? Use the off season to get things going, the hard work will pay off and you'll beat that 77. I'm in the same boat as you in lots of respects. I was lucky enough to have some good rounds that I met my scoring goals a couple times this season. If you practice lots and don't have success you need to be honest on your evaluation. How are you practicing? Does the practice mimic play? You'll get it, but the cliche is true, just relax and play.

I was just thinking about this head thing and if you watch Anika Sorenstam hit you would think she hits her driver 200 yards. I think there is something to this head release thing for generating more power through the ball.

DUDE! TAKE YOUR IRONS TO THE LESSON.

I asked my former instructor who attended the President's Cup how he liked Mike Weir's swing. He said didn't notice too much on him but who I was really impressed with was Trevor Immelman. He commented how his swing was so solid etc. In the November 2007 Golf Digest Trevor Immelman does a feature piece and one part he's talking about getting his head moving earlier in the swing similar to Anika Sorenstam. All this head moving talk got me thinking yesterday so I did some practice swings where I let my head pull up earlier and it really felt like I was accelerating through impact without any extra effort. It was a weird feeling though that is for sure. My feeling was that my impact would be affected by this move, not sure. Also the other thing my instructor was impressed with was Woody Austin. He took out a driver on the tee box, dropped a ball on the grass with no tee, whacked the ground behind the ball a few times with his driver to fluff up the lie and hit a sweet driver off the deck on the tee box. Oh Woody, you're a crazy mofo!

c_mack9 it's all relative. I'm a mid handicapper and can totally understand what the low handicap guys are saying here. I went and practiced my short game, (new long swing too) for 45 minutes a day for two weeks straight. My short game on the course was like night and day. I never liked to practice the short game because I felt I was giving away so many strokes off the tee, which was true, as soon as my long game became more consistent via the swing change I went right into practicing short game. It's amazing what that combination can provide. I know my handicap is showing a 10 but that's approximate, my last few games of the year would put me around a 6 handicap. I know, I know it's not a real handicap because it's only a few rounds. I also feel the need to play with some solid players, I usually get joined up with whoever and honestly I'd like to play with some players that are better than me. Seems like I always end up with Hacker Joe or whatever.

Great information on the swinging relaxed and smoothly. I found Ron's head movement before impact interesting. What is the reason he has for the early lifting of the head. I think most players that would lift the head that early would completely miss the ball. I see that he isn't a fan of Stack and Tilt but he also seems mis-informed on the S&T; swing. The Tilt he demonstates in his video isn't the Tilt talked about in the swing. Anyway, I digress. The idea of hitting through the ball and not at it is a great concept and I would like to incorporate that feeling into my swing as well. It's similar to the less is more approach. Less effort = More distance. EFFICIENCY.

She's a regular David Blaine (Street Magician). This story is going to continue to get huge and she'll get her 15 minutes of fame. It's actually sad, bugs me why she would do this.

What does the TM stand for in the MP57-TM? I am thinking about the Mizuno MP57's, are the tour models different than the rack models? Most players on The Sand Trap that have Mizuno gear seem to love it. I'll be giving it a serious look this offseason when I purchase my new iron set.

I read in a magazine about a conversation with an older tour pro. A player was asking him how he put back spin on the golf ball. The tour pro asked how far he hit is 7 iron. The player answered with 150 yards. The tour pro said if you only hit a 7 iron 150 yards why would you want to make it go shorter by adding spin. It's an interesting concept. I think most people want spin because it looks SO cool. The reason it looks cool is because not many people can spin the ball. I'll be honest, I've never been able to spin a ball much more than a few feet. When I'm striking the ball well my shots will either sit close to their pitch mark with wedges, run forward a few feet down to my 7 iron to holding most greens with my 3 iron. When it's right. Tour Pros aren't spinning the ball as much as a few years back because it's hard to control is my understanding.

I think a more accurate word than efficient is consistent.

I think you need one more option which is Sometimes practice the preshot routine. I would pick the sometimes. If I'm working on a new swing move, I am a bit more like a machine gun. If I'm about to play a round, it's very much like playing. Pause between shots etc.

I had the shanks a couple years ago as well. BTW, they are confidence destroying like nothing else in golf. Ugliest shot that can be hit. My issue was on over the top move that was causing me to get close to the heel. Are you taking divots after the ball right now? That was the other indication that my swing path was outside to in and causing heel strikes. Make sure your hitting the ball in the middle of the face when it's not a shank, otherwise it could be a swing path issue.

In a word. Yes.

exact opposite. If you don't swing fast enough to flex the shaft properly then you'll feel like your swinging a 2x4 and the shaft won't release into the impact zone. You might was well be swinging a long wooden spoon with a titanium spatula attached to the end. :)